1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to wheelbarrows, and, in particular to the converting of wheelbarrows into garden or industrial type trailers. In general, wheelbarrows are designed to be manually lifted and moved. The present invention 1 allows for any two-wheeled wheelbarrow to be attached to the rear of any ATV, riding lawn mower, or tractor thereby eliminating the manual labor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art has come up with various arrangements for utilizing a wheelbarrow as a garden or industrial trailer, for carrying such loads as the wheel barrow is designed to be pulled by a towing vehicle such as an ATV, riding lawn mower, or tractor.
Thus, by way of example, in Lehman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,052,079, Lehman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,678, Lehman, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,950 and Wannamaker, U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,926, the wheelbarrow is received and rested or fixed to a dolly, which, in turn, is coupled to a towing vehicle such as a conventional garden tractor. It can be seen that an additional piece of equipment is required, i.e. a dolly, there is no quick means of attachment/detachment to the towing vehicle and an additional hand operation is required to install/remove a pin for securement/detachment to/from the towing vehicle. Also, the wheelbarrow ends up being towed in a rearward direction.
Johnson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,008, and Porter, U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,171 disclose two-wheeled wheelbarrows that may be converted to a trailer and in which a tow bar is integrated into the wheelbarrow's handles. As with Lehman, there is no quick means of attachment/detachment to the towing vehicle, an additional hand operation is required to install/remove a pin for securement/detachment to/from the towing vehicle and the wheelbarrow ends up being towed in a rearward direction.
Wallace, U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,061 discloses a two-wheeled wheelbarrow that is convertible to a trailer via a tow bar extender detachably connected to a permanently affixed tow bar beneath the pan of the wheelbarrow. There is no quick means of attachment/detachment to the towing vehicle, an additional hand operation is required to install/remove a pin for securement/detachment to/from the towing vehicle and the wheelbarrow ends up being towed in a rearward direction.
Finally, Fedorko, U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,356 discloses a two-wheeled wheelbarrow that is convertible to a trailer via a tow bar that is attached to the bottom of the wheelbarrow's body or pan, attached to the legs by a cross piece and is coupled to a lawn tractor. There is no quick means of attachment/detachment to the towing vehicle, an additional hand operation is required to install/remove a pin for securement/detachment to/from the towing vehicle and the wheelbarrow ends up being towed in a rearward direction.
In reviewing the prior art, it will be appreciated that a need still exists for the means whereby a wheelbarrow may be quickly and simply converted to a garden or industrial type trailer and without modification of the wheelbarrow.